Pistorius officer on attempted murder charges

PRETORIA: The lead investigator in the case against Olympian Oscar Pistorius faces attempted murder charges, South African police said.

The detective, Hilton Botha, is due to appear in court in May on seven counts of attempted murder arising from a shooting in October 2011, Police Brigadier Neville Malila said on Thursday.

Detective Botha and two other police officers fired shots while trying to stop a mini-van in the incident, Brigadier Malila said. The three were allegedly drunk.

The charges were initially dropped, but then reinstated.

''We were only informed [Wednesday] that attempted murder charges against Hilton Botha have been reinstated,'' Brigadier Malila said.

It was unclear whether Detective Botha would continue working on the Pistorius case.

On Wednesday, the prosecution case against Pistorius began to unravel with revelations of a series of police blunders and Botha's admission authorities had no evidence challenging the double-amputee Olympian's claim he killed his girlfriend accidentally. Pistorius faces a charge of premeditated murder.

Botha, an experienced officer, came in for harsh criticism over his performance at Wednesday's bail hearing for the star athlete.

Called as a witness for the prosecution, he was expected to solidly nail points that would make it difficult for Pistorius, accused of fatally shooting his model girlfriend on Valentine's Day, to secure bail. Instead, his testimony cast doubt on the case against the star athlete.

Pistorius, 26, claims he shot 29-year-old Reeva Steenkamp after mistaking her for an intruder. He denies murdering her intentionally, as the prosecution aims to prove.

But Botha stumbled in his evidence, admitting investigators had walked over the crime scene without protective boots, and had overlooked a bullet that hit the toilet bowl - later discovered by the defence's forensic team.

Botha also appeared to discredit one of the police's witnesses, who said they heard fighting in Pistorius's house on the night of the murder, by telling the court the house was 600 metres away. He backtracked, saying it was 300 metres away.

He also testified the substance found in a dresser in the athlete's bedroom was testosterone, which is banned by the International Olympic Committee. But Pistorius's defence lawyer Barry Roux said the substance was a legal herbal remedy.

Mr Roux offered a masterclass in cross-examination when he attacked the evidence.

At times exasperated, at times condescending, Mr Roux reduced Botha to a stuttering wreck.

He repeatedly put it to Botha the police had found no hard evidence to challenge Pistorius's version of events. Within minutes, the hapless officer was admitting the weaknesses of his case, saying: ''I don't have any facts.''

Mr Roux gained a breathless following on Twitter, with one fan hailing him as a ''genius'', and another recommending him for a part in the US legal drama Suits.

He is thought to be earning between $4500 and $8000 a day for defending Pistorius. On Wednesday, he modestly said his performance was ''nothing special''.